When a sitcom becomes reality – Friends

When the sitcom “Friends” was on the air, I was in high school and university. So in the evenings I would drive my family crazy because I would also put on Friends. Even if I’d seen the episode 2-3 times, I put it on. If I’d seen it 4-5 then maybe I would let someone to choose something else.

Each and every character in Friends was hilarious in their own way. Everyone remembered Pheobe and her crazed theories, philiosophy on life, her wardrobe and even her behavior.

Last night it happened. An episode from Friends became my real life. At first I didn’t know it was happening. I was in bed just about to go to sleep and then I hear a beep. Now living in Brussels and especially my busy neighboorhood, hearing weird noises is normal. I almost ALMOST threw eggs across the street when the restuarant’s burglar alarm went off at 6:00am on a Saturday for the 10th time this year. But I restrained myself …..and I wanted to eat eggs for breakfast.

Anyways, last night I was all cozy ready to fall asleep and then the beeps kept going at an interval. Just when you think they were going to stop BEEP! So rising ever so reluctantly from the warm bed, I checked the living room. Beep! Ok it was coming from the next room. I opened the entrance way and Beep! Yes, it was the smoke alarm beeping from a low battery.

Now this wouldn’t be a problem if the ceilings were at least 12-15 feet high and of course the smoke alarm was on the ceiling, who does this I don’t know. (Belgians do these type of things, sorry…ok lets be more fair, people living in Belgium do these type of things). So luckily My Prince was there to save the day…or the night as it were. He placed a chair from the dinner table ontop of the dresser that was in the entraceway. He poked that alarm to try to switch it off. Beep! Didn’t work.

Even though he is over 6 feet tall, he could not get his hand around the alarm to pull it down. So being the bookie that I am, I got to the shelf and grab the thickest book I own, which gave him another 3 inches at least. Using a knife to pry the death bell from its hindges, it came down. BEEP!

Now this is when I remember the Friends sitcom and Pheobe having this exact problem. She takes the alarm down, and it still beeps. Then, as I remember, she smashes it to pieces and it still beeps. Then she throws it down the garbage shoot and I think a fireman rings her doorbell and says that she dropped it or something and that its against the law.

So after removing the three circular batteries the battle was over. BEEP! Ok no it wasn’t. By this point I was laughing my head off and considered putting it outside on the balcony. BEEP! My Prince stabbed the alarm a few times, it beeped feebily and then stopped. For the rest of the night I slept easy.

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5 Thoughts to “When a sitcom becomes reality – Friends”

Beeping happens only when I broil steak in the oven. My husband disables the upstairs alarms, but the one downstairs is hard-wired, so there’s no shutting it up. The cats gallop up the stairs and hide under the bed. We’ve taken extreme measures, including cleaning the oven, but I think the only solution is to start eating our steak very rare. I suppose it’s a good thing steak is rarely on the menu.

Our smoke alarm beeps on a daily basis – it has become the 5 minute warning for dinner. One day I had a cold call when the alrming was beeping, I was aksed, is that a moke alarm, I said yes, oh ok and they hung up. I was quite tempted to set the alarm off everytime the phone rang…just in case like

Sounds like battery is really hanging in there if it beeps everyday….or is that the sound of it going off? Its funny that it serves as a warning for dinner, its an easier way to get people to the table.

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